annaschummi

Well, nothing seems to get changed till after Easter. No ski tourism, no travels between the regions, no dinner in restaurants, but lunch only in yellow zones.

exp

And some regions are going up the color chart, meaning more restrictions.

But apparently bars are open in some places like Milan? Young adults getting their aperitivos and socializing, like last spring when they did the same and got their grandparents sick?

Goldorak

It’s called life. You cannot keep people in jail forever.

Goldorak

Unfortunately, I had to cancel as Campania has been moved from yellow to Orange category .
Puglia and Sicily have made the opposite move, but there are so few flights to go there and they are horribly expensive
Any information if Rome/Latium is at risk to leave the yellow category anytime soon ?

behuman

Gladly it is the last day of opening as whole Lombardy and Piedmont will be orange zone with those nasty bars finally closed tomorrow. Corriere della Sera today wrote that the peak will be around 20 March and the movement between regions is blocked till 27 March for sure.The same Corriere writes today that they aim to administrate 600 000 (!!!!) vaccine doses per day.

This said, international travel is possible (depending on the entry conditions of the destination country) and to enter Italy a fast test is still sufficient and you have to show that you have a "abitazione" equals place to stay. For international arrival this is a little bit unclear.

txp

Is it possible for a EU citizen living in the US to travel to Italy for leisure on a COVID-free flight (JFK-FCO)? Will the person be admitted to Italy? And, assuming negative COVID tests, would the person be allowed to rent a car and drive from FCO to the destination of his choice?

Goldorak

You can use this official site to determine the eligibility.
https://infocovid.viaggiaresicuri.it/index_en.html
Then you need to check if the final destination (region) is in red/orange/yellow/white category. Only white and yellow regions are accessible without compelling reasons. Rome (Latium) is currently yellow. Just make a Google search and you will find all the information you need.

The person will certainly be allowed to rent a car but it is currently forbidden to travel between regions in Italy AFAIK unless he/she has a compelling reason. So if he/she is renting a car in FCO, it will be to stay within Latium region. I have no idea how this is enforced but I am sure some Italian friends on this forum will be able to tell you.

txp

Thank you, you are correct. I did the research and it appears that, at least until the end of March, one could not travel between regions for tourism. Even if one makes it to the final destination somehow, when the final destination is in the orange region (as most are), you really can't do much in the way of tourism because of local restrictions.

It appears that at the moment the island of Sardinia is the only place in Italy where one could go on vacation (assuming, of course, EU citizenship and exemption from quarantine).

Goldorak

It's the only place in white category, but you can go to the yellow regions. Only important problem to mention for yellow zones is that restaurants are not open for dinner. But wherever you want to go in a white or yellow area, you face another problem which is the lack of flights. If you go to a secondary destination (I mean, not FCO, VCE, MXP/LIN), AZ has very few domestic flights left due to (1) AZ eternal crisis and (2) covid restrictions and so those secondary destinations are hard to reach and when you find a flight that may work, it costs a fortune.

13901

Italy has extended the current limitations to entering the country from the UK (basically no entry unless you're a resident, with limited exceptions) to the Tuesday after Easter, i.e. April 6th.

rove312

There's some attention given to a Frances Mayes Instagram post saying "If you own a house, you're permitted to enter Italy," but I don't think it's so simple; I think you need to be an established permanent resident.

13901

I'm a citizen and I own a home in Italy but as a foreign resident, unless I have an urgent reason for entering the country I can't... at least from the UK. Other countries might be different. I recommend that people who want to go there check the Foreign Office questionnaire:

https://infocovid.viaggiaresicuri.it/index_en.html

KLouis

My experience is from 4-5 months ago, so I have no idea whether my "trick" still works, but if anybody absolutely needs to travel to Italy it may be worth looking into this. I was visiting my son in Switzerland and we had a "very long" weekend in Ticino (Thu to Mon, based in Locarno, but also spent a day in Lugano). In those 5 days we entered Italy three times by car, of which one was entirely by mistake (did not check the map). Not once did we experience a border check, neither Italian nor Swiss, in any direction, we never saw a "uniform" even saying hello or waving us through. Mind you, even if still possible, if one needs to be in Reggio Calabria or Lecce, this will be a rather tiring and expensive way for getting there, but for Milano or, even, Venice or Bologna... Again, though, my warning, I don't know whether it is still feasible!

behuman

The green border, secondary roads, but you may be checked by the "guardia di finanza" shortly after inside Italy.

The ultimate trick would be to pass the border with a Swiss registered rental car and telling them you are transiting to France - of course with a recent RT-PCR test for France .

Or you need a good reason like going to see the doctor.

This said, I would strongly advise even thinking about going to Italy until well after Easter. There will be a dramatic peak around 20 March.

annaschummi

It is very difficult to enforce because there are too many people moving around, the police cannot control each single car. However, police cars are located mostly at highway exists, but there are controls on state routes as well. I have been stopped several times for documents control. In this case police checks if you are entitiled to be where you are. Some policemen just collect autocertification, others do ask questions.

Liguria is still yellow for another week, so we took this chance to go out for lunch and some walk in Riviera del Levante. There are very few cars with foreign plates and very few foreigners. Restaurants are full with locals and smartworkers from Milan. You have to book a table a week in advance. It took us 2,5 hours to get back from Rapallo to Genoa due to heavy traffic,so there are really many many people hanging around.